Friday, 28 November 2014

This is one of my comfiest outfits ever, and pretty much what I've been living in the past couple of rainy days in London (hence the bedroom background). It's been pretty grey and grim this week and I've not been feeling too well, so all I've wanted to do is huddle under a crochet blanket with Herschy in my room.

Instead I've been slouching around the studio with a lemon and honey herbal tea in hand, and in these super comfy velvet joggers from Leggsington, a great alternative to my jeans that I've been living in, and I've also been vintage buying this week which of course has made me feel a million times better. So much good stuff coming to Waiste before Christmas, I honestly am not quite sure how I'm going to part with it.

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

You may have noticed, especially if you follow me on instagram (@sara_waiste by the way) I'm obsessed with candles and my flats fireplace is full of them. So when Flamingo Gifts asked me to choose some items from their website to review, along with a few kitchen bits which I'll get onto, what I really wanted to try out was some of their unusual candles scents. I picked darjeeling tea, vanilla milk bottles and parma violets. I've got such a sweet tooth and used to love pic and mix when I was little, sadly not so much anymore being veggie/they're really bad for you haha, but these candles smell exactly like the sweets and the darjeeling just smells dreamy. Sometimes I find with scented candles is when they burn you can't really smell them, but these smell incredible. I've been alternating between the scents/burning them all at once for over a week now and not only do they fit in perfectly into my display, they are making my flat smell delicious too. The packaging is really cute, simple yet effective and the candle colours are lovely too. At around £11 a candle these would make great Christmas gifts.

Along with the candles I fell in love with their folklore tea pot (below) which I will admit-even though I have been testing it out, I mainly just loved that it looked pretty in my kitchen rather than having for everyday use. The pretty pattern on it looks like it could be vintage and it looks perfect with all my tea boxes, and being enamel means I won't accidentally break it, like I did with one of my vintage teapots before. This again would make a lovely gift, perfect for a vintage tea lover or for someone who collects unusual kitchenware.

I obviously love the cat chalkboard of course, it's the perfect cat lovers gift, and it's been so useful to have on the kitchen wall (right underneath my cat clock obviously) for when I've been needing to write little to do lists, and me and my boyfriend have been writing little notes to each other too. I really love all my items, I'm really happy with them and can't recommend Flamingo Gifts enough. Full of the cutest little gifts like this, they're the perfect place to shop if you're looking for something a little bit different for Christmas presents this year. What do you think?

Sunday, 23 November 2014

Coat: Miss Patina*Dress: VintageFaux Fur collar: Waiste VintageLoafers: H&MBag: Zara
Now I know they're not to everyones taste but I do love socks with loafers. I feel like there is something quite quintessentially British about this outfit? From time to time I do love to embrace my quirky Britishness-is that even a word? You know what I mean.

I think the British vibe has definitely got a lot to do with the coat. Miss Patina is such a lovely vintage inspired brand and wearing this coat is actually making me feel a little homesick-I just want to go for a walk in the countryside through my village followed by a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Of course in true British fashion, it's currently raining and of course I'm in London at the moment so I can't actually do any of that. Might just settle for going to get cake instead.

Thursday, 20 November 2014

photographer – dana trippemodels – maria margarita, terra jo wallace, natascha elisa, courtney ungarall clothing – LENNIall boots – pskaufmanAll images taken from http://www.lenni-shop.comblog.
I'm actually obsessed with this Lenni shoot. I can't stop looking at it, everything about it from the clothes to the imagery to the editing. It's just so perfect. I love Dana Trippe's photography it's amazing. Makes me want to move to America right now and do shoots like in the desert this forever. If only it were that simple...
See the full shoot on their blog HERE

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

Shirt: Jessthetics*Cardigan: Vintage (really old)Jeans: ASOS
I self timed these a couple of weeks ago now when I was at home, so apologises for the slight blurriness. I love my willow tree so much. There used to be a swing on it when my brother and I were little, and there actually used to be two of them, one on each side, but one sadly had to get cut down.

Anyway....I was sent this dreamy paisley vintage shirt a few weeks ago by Jess from Jessthetics, who has just started a great online sustainable handmade easy shop of the same name. (HERE) which has recently expanded to stock vintage too. I love the ethics of Jess on both her blog, shop and lifestyle, she's vey inspiring. Have a read of her environment and ethics page HERE, it's such a lovely idea to spread awareness about leading a more environmentally friendly and ethic lifestyle.

I know I've said this before on my blog but as I'm getting older I've really noticed how much much more aware I'm becoming of what I'm eating, buying and wearing. Has anyone else found this?
After becoming vegetarian this year, I've gradually been making more little changes in my lifestyle to make it more ethical and environmentally friendly, and I really want to do more. That's also one of the reasons I love vintage so much, not only for the thrill of finding hidden treasures, it's also a form of recycling too, and I love reworking a few of the vintage pieces I find too to give new life into them for the next owner to love.

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Cape/Poncho: Pretty Little Thing*Boots: Pretty little Thing*Cardigan and Dress: Waiste VintageHat: Catarzi via ASOS
Whoops, I've realised it's been a week since my last post, I've just been so busy. Work is so intense at the moment. I shot a few outfits when I went home but broke my camera lead and had to wait patiently for a new one to arrive before I could get the pictures off of it. The weather is still warm enough in London for no tights (yay) and to carry on layering (double yay). I feel like the cape is becoming a winter version of the kimono, I love them. When I put this outfit together it was kind of on a whim but I feel like it kind of works?

Although I own a vintage website (and vintage is always my first love) when it comes to my personal style I do like to mix it up with both vintage and high street pieces. Pretty Little Thing is an online high street brand that have some great 'me' pieces in at the moment, they've really grown as a brand and their style has definitely grown and changed, they really cater to everyone, so it was great to be able to work with them and to style some of their pieces up in my own way, and with my own vintage product. I love all their faux fur pieces they've got in at the moment too, I really need to up my faux fur collection, it just hasn't be cold enough to even wear a jacket...yet!

Sunday, 9 November 2014

A couple of months ago Teatox very kindly sent me their Skinny Detox tea from their tea range to review. The reason why it's taken so long to blog about it, is because last week they launched their English website (they are based in Berlin) and I wanted the post to coincide with their launch. As I love a good herbal tea I was excited to try a slightly different variation to my usual tea tendencies.

The detox tea market is massive at the moment so it is hard to find the right one for you. This particular tea, the 'skinny detox' comes in two tins of loose tea, one you drink in the morning and one in the evening. The only other detox tea I've tried before is yourtea tiny teatox. That came in teabags, but I found to be a little bit of a struggle to take three times a day for two weeks, so already I found it much easier already to have this tea only twice a day, even if the way it was prepared was slightly longer. What I love most about this teatox tea is that every single ingredient in it is completely natural and organic, and all their teas are certified organic too. All the ingredients of the tea are listed on the side of the tin too, and there isn't anything added. Once you get the hang of making the tea it is quite simple to do, and it has such a mild pleasant taste, which I know the taste with some detox teas seems to be a big issue. This one tastes great, and I'm not just saying that.

Preparing the tea to start with was the trickiest part for me, although there are simple instructions on the sides of both tins (and it comes with a downloadable guide which lists all the ingredients) but no where says how to make the actual tea, and I can't find it anywhere on the website either. I've not had much (any) experience with loose leaf teas, so in the beginning I wasn't even sure I needed a strainer as I read the instructions as: literally put a teaspoon of tea into the mug and add water. Oops. I really wasn't thinking to start with.

But you learn something new everyday and I got the hang of it after one disaster of a go. Basically to make it as easy as possible for me instead of using my big Hornsea teapot (above ^^ which looked pretty at first so of course it had to be in the picture) I downsized to a small milk jug as it was easier to fill and I didn't have to measure the water every time as it was the perfect size. In the mornings I left it for the recommended 5-7 minutes to infuse and made breakfast so it was really easy to fit into my daily routine, and in the evening I usually made it a little after eating tea, which again was easy to fit in. I admit I did miss a couple of night time ones as I was out on a few occasions but there is a generous amount of tea in the tins that you can definitely make it last a little longer than two weeks, and missing a couple won't make much, if any difference.

The main benefits I found for me after taking the tea was that my stomach definitely seemed less bloated throughout the day, and I honestly did feel all round a lot better, however I didn't seem to have any more energy than usual. But the biggest difference is actually my skin. It looks so much better. It's been quite bad with breakouts recently but after taking the tea they're pretty much gone. I'd try this tea again for that reason alone.